Annual Reports

2002—UC IPM on the World Wide Web

Contents
Information Available from the UC IPM Web Site
New Pest Models
Aphid Identification Keys
Research Results on the Web
Averages Calculated for CIMIS Stations
New Way to Retrieve Weather Data

Information Available from the UC IPM Web Site

A wide range of pest management information and related data is available on the UC IPM Web site:

• Pest Management Guidelines: illustrated information for controlling pests in 43 crops, from the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines series
• Pest Notes: management of more than 100 home and landscape pests
• PDFs of Pest Management Guidelines and Pest Notes, which are suitable for printing (see UC IPM in Action, Education)
• Identification helpers: weed photo gallery, ant key, aphid key
• Degree-day calculator: computes degree-days for use with phenology models, linked to weather database or a user's data file
• Weather database: archive of data from stations throughout California
• Insects, mites, and plant phenology models: descriptions of degree-day models of more than 100 organisms
• Crop disease models: descriptions of models of crop-specific diseases
• Results of sponsored research projects, such as tomato powdery mildew model, cotton planting forecast
• Pesticides and water quality: information for preventing contamination of waterways by agricultural and urban pesticide use
• California pesticide use summaries: DPR pesticide use data since 1990
• Catalog of publications, educational resources, software, etc.
• UC IPM annual reports (1995-2002)
• Funded projects database: Summaries of research funded by UC IPM grants programs

New Pest Models

This year UC IPM added two models to the Interactive Tools and Models page, and both rely on data from the UC IPM weather database.

The new Web-based tomato powdery mildew model forecasts the need to spray a fungicide based on the risk of disease. Since tomato plants don’t show symptoms of powdery mildew until about 2 weeks after infection, and no treatment is effective once symptoms are shown, the forecast gives a grower warning about the need to protect the crop.

To predict if damaging disease will develop within 2 weeks, the powdery mildew model determines if weather conditions have been right for mildew infection and calculates the risk of disease. Based on the disease risk, the model makes recommendations about the need to spray, taking into account whether the field is protected by fungicide applications. The model, based on research by UC Davis researchers Remigio Guzman Plazola and Mike Davis, uses weather data from the California Tomato Network or from a file supplied by the user.

The citrus thrips damage estimator has been validated only in Tulare County, California, but it provides a first step in developing a reliable prediction of citrus thrips damage in advance of when thrips would be treated, if needed. It estimates the degree of first scarring of navel oranges by citrus thrips, Scirtothrips citri, from weather data that accumulates prior to petal fall. Estimates for all UC IPM weather station locations in the San Joaquin citrus-growing areas are revised and posted daily during the first half of the year.

By posting the model on the site, authors Heinrich Schweizer and Joseph Morse, both UC Riverside entomologists, hope to collect feedback from citrus growers and pest control advisers who will compare its predictions to what they are seeing in the field. The model has not been fully tested and cannot be recommended for making treatment decisions at this time.

Aphid Identification Keys

Since economic thresholds have been developed for individual aphid species, appropriate aphid management requires accurate identification. New interactive keys on the Web site will help you identify some aphid species commonly found in California alfalfa, cotton, small grains, corn, and sorghum. Users can readily navigate through the keys by clicking on the drawings, photos, or descriptions that best match the aphid in question. When the key identifies an aphid, a page with photos and links to management information from the UC Pest Management Guidelines is displayed.

The aphid keys, created with the assistance of UC Davis Entomologist Charles Summers, join the weed photo gallery and a key to eight species of ants in the Identification Helpers section of the Web site.

Research Results on the Web

Find annual research reports from scientists funded through UC IPM grants programs in the projects databases under Research Results. Users may search by pest, crop or host, year, or investigator to find information on all of the projects that meet the criteria. The databases contain projects for both the UC IPM Research Grants Program and the Exotic Pests and Diseases Research Program. To ensure successful searches by avoiding spelling issues, each database provides lists from which the crop, pest, or investigator can be selected.

Averages Calculated for CIMIS Stations

Average values for each day of the year for air temperature, rainfall, reference evapotranspiration, solar radiation, and soil temperature have been calculated for CIMIS stations with long records. The values are stored in the UC IPM weather database. From the Weather Data and Products section, users may view the averages, download them into a file, use them to fill in missing values for degree-days, calculate average degree-days over a season, or use them as a forecast of what might occur if future weather is "average."

The averages were calculated only for CIMIS stations that have at least 10 years of available data with few missing days. Also available are 30-year averages for more than 130 U. S. Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate stations.

New Way to Retrieve Weather Data

Now users can quickly find a weather station that reports the temperatures, rainfall, reference evapotranspiration, or other weather variables they need. The process for retrieving weather data from the UC IPM weather database has been revised to make it easier to find a station that has the data a user is looking for and to learn more about the characteristics of the station.

Under the new scheme, daily weather data and PestCast research data are retrieved by the same process and more information is available for stations. From the weather menu users may

• select from a list of stations, whether by county, by PestCast network, or a list of all stations we store.
• specify "active stations only" if you need a station that reports current data. This reduces the number of stations to examine.

From the list of stations that is displayed, users may

• click on "map" to see a map showing locations of all the stations in the county or network you selected.
• click on "daily summary" to see the most recent day’s data for all the stations in the county or network you selected.
• Click to get the information you want: a description of the station, daily or hourly data, or averages, as available.

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